Tag Archives: cover

Today on the blog we’re excited to welcome romance author, Alyssa Alexander, who will be giving away an Advanced Reading Copy of her debut novel, A SMUGGLER WORE SILK to one lucky commenter. But before we get to Alyssa’s post, here are the results of the FEARLESS cover poll from Monday. Out of 222 visitors, there were 31 total votes broken down as follows:

Historical Romance 0 votes 0 %

Erotic Romance 11 votes 35.48 %

Paranormal Romance 7 votes 22.58%

Contemporary Romance 8 votes 25.81%

Sci-fi/ Futuristic Romance 0 votes 0 %

Romantic Suspense 5 votes 16.13%

Though the majority of votes were for erotic and contemporary, you may be surprised to learn that FEARLESS fits best into the Sci-fi/ Futuristic Romance genre (which received 0 votes). Though, I think it could also be categorized as a Paranormal Romance (which received the 3rd highest votes). Either way, it’s clear to me that this book can’t be judged by it’s cover alone. That’s okay. Most people read a book’s blurb, right? They can also read an excerpt on my website and peek inside at Amazon. Fearless is available for pre-order now and releases January 7th (less than 2 weeks away!).

Guess who else has a book releasing that same day? Our guest blogger, Alyssa Alexander. Welcome Alyssa!!

Thanks so much for inviting me to be on Attacking the Page, Kathy! I was delighted to discover we share a book birthday. Having read CAPTIVE, now I can’t wait to get my hands on FEARLESS!

Since we’re only a few short weeks away from our shared release day, I thought perhaps I would give readers a chance to get to know the hero and heroine of THE SMUGGLER WORE SILK: spy Julian Travers, Earl of Langford, and smuggler Grace Hannah. And, while I’m at it, how about some fun facts about me, as well?

First, a little about the book:

After he is betrayed by one of his own, British spy Julian Travers, Earl of Langford, refuses to retire without a fight, vowing to find the traitor. But when the trail leads to his childhood home, Julian is forced to return to a place he swore he’d never see again, and meet a woman who may be his quarry—in more ways than one.

Though she may appear a poor young woman dependent on charity, Grace Hannah’s private life is far more interesting. By night, she finds friendship and freedom as a member of a smuggling ring. But when the handsome Julian arrives, she finds her façade slipping, and she is soon compromised, as well as intrigued.

As she and Julian continue the hunt, Grace finds herself falling in love with the man behind the spy. Yet Julian’s past holds a dark secret. And when he must make a choice between love and espionage, that secret may tear them apart.

Now, let’s get to know Julian and Grace!

Five Fun Facts About Grace:

Food: She usually has a glass of good French red wine when she visits the local pub.

Weapon: She carries a pocket pistol, and she knows how to use it.

Medical Skills: If you have the croup, megrims, need stitches, or need to set a broken bone, she’s your girl.

Activity: Grace is an accomplished horsewoman and even rides astride. Shhh…don’t tell! It would ruin her reputation!

Secrets: She tries very hard to hide behind the mask of poor relation, but you can’t hide a rebel smuggler forever.

Five Fun Facts About Julian:

Food: He loves gingerbread, and lest you think authors often put themselves into a book, this author vehemently dislikes gingerbread.

Weapon: Among the other deadly odds and ends on his person, he carries a knife in his boot.

Medical Skills: Julian knows nothing beyond battlefield basics, which will do in a pinch. Particularly if you’re a spy.

Activity: He’s in the business of espionage, which means he knows all those spy tricks about fading into shadows and hand to hand combat. You know, the fun stuff. Regency martial arts!

Secrets: Julian has been carrying his secrets for far too long. But secrets have a way of being discovered, and his are very close to the surface once he returns to his childhood home.

Five Fun Facts About Alyssa:

Food: I love bacon. On everything. Actually, I just like food.

Weapon: I have never touched a pistol, rifle, musket, or any other firearm. Nor have I touched a knife that isn’t intended to peel potatoes or chop onion. I’m sure I would be missing digits or limbs if I tried.

Medical Skills: I’m very experienced at putting superhero band-aids on small children. Beyond that, I’m at a loss.

Activity: I’ve ridden a horse only once, and it left me quite bruised. I know nothing of martial arts or any other tricksy spy things. But I do love yoga, and find it helps me balance a full time job, a family and a writing career. My favorite poses are Pigeon (when I can do it) and Warrior III. But my very, very favorite pose is the Couch Potato, preferably accompanied by Potato Chips.

Secrets: If I have any, they’re so secret I’ve forgotten them—which is probably for the best!

Now that you’ve met Julian and Grace, I’d love to give away an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) to one random commenter! Good luck!

Alyssa Alexander spends her days working, her evenings playing with a kindergartener, and her late nights writing. She lives in Michigan, but is quite certain she belongs somewhere warm and sunny where drinks are served with little paper umbrellas.

THE SMUGGLER WORE SILK is available for pre-order now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Watch for Alyssa’s next book, IN BED WITH A SPY, coming in fall of 2014. In the meantime, you can visit her here:

Thanks for visiting with us today, Alyssa! I have already pre-ordered my copy of A Smuggler Wore Silk. I look forward to reading it! By the way…great book trailer!! 🙂 Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered to win an Advanced Reading Copy of A Smuggler Wore Silk!

On Monday’s blog we had a little fun with the cover of my debut novel, CAPTIVE. Thank you to all who have checked out my cover, and to all who have voted on its genre. In the past three days, we had 329 views and 41 votes. I don’t know what happened to the other 288 people. Either they were the same 41 people checking back to see how the poll was going, or they were reading Rayna’s Ten Fun Fact About Wonder Woman, which was the second most popular blog post since Monday. 🙂

This is how the 41 votes broke down:

Contemporary Romance 0 votes 0%

Futuristic Romance 6 votes 14.63%

Historical Romance 18 votes 43.9%

Paranormal Romance 10 votes 24.39%

Erotic Romance 3 votes 7.32%

Romantic Suspense 4 votes 9.76%

I must admit I was a bit surprised at the results. But…before I tell you what the genre is, I have some other news I’m thrilled to share.

Melinda informed me that my book is up on Amazon! I am so excited. I nearly wept when I saw my title, name, and the pre-order button. I didn’t cry, though, because my kids would have thought I was crazier than I already am.

ME: I have an ISBN number! It’s official baby!!

KIDS: Uh, Mom, are you okay?

ME: And three “Likes.” Oh my god, three people “Like” me!

KIDS: Ooo-kay (said in that drawn out what-the-heck voice teens and pre-teens do so well.)

I didn’t tell the kids that one of the “Likes” was my own. Hey, if I don’t “Like” myself, then how can I expect anyone else to? 😉

The cover image isn’t available on Amazon yet (at least it wasn’t at the writing of this blog), but the page count is – which I find amusing. How do they know the final number of pages? I haven’t even received the second round of revisions yet. You can also read the book description. I’m not sure who writes those (editor? marketing? someone else?) but I loved it.

Hmm…I just noticed Amazon’s product description says the book is ranked #650,922 on the best sellers list. Geez…that’s a big freaking number. *shrugs* Anyway, CAPTIVE will be available electronically on April 1, 2013 and in paperback on April 2. You can also find it online at Barnes and Noble. And it’s already on sale there.

Okay…so back to the topic of the blog post…What genre is this cover?

It obviously isn’t a contemporary. Everyone got that right. It’s not an erotic romance, although there are some steamy scenes. 😳 And it’s not a romantic suspense, although there is an escape and a chase.

If you haven’t already clicked through to read the book description, it may come as a surprise to you that the majority of the voters were incorrect. CAPTIVE: Book 1 in the Survival Race Series) is not an historical romance. Yes there is a broadsword in the story, and gladiators.

But… these gladiators are fighting to the death on an alien planet and gambled upon for sport.

The novel isn’t set in the future time-wise, but I think it would still technically be considered a futuristic romance because of the alien world. You could argue that futuristic falls under the umbrella of paranormal. Okay, lets say both are correct. If we combine the futuristic and paranormal votes, we get 16, which is 39.02%. That’s still less than the 43.9% of votes for historical. This means that nearly half the people picking up the book expecting knights in shining armor will be disappointed if they chose this book based on cover alone. It’s a good thing Amazon lets you read before you buy.

I wonder if I should have added another category to my poll. Fantasy Romance. Since there is a mix of past and future in the book. Perhaps that is the element the cover is most conveying? Would you have chosen that if it were an option? If you had bought the book thinking it was a fantasy, would you be disappointed? Hmm…

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please leave them in the comments section.

I received my final cover art for my debut novel, CAPTIVE, due to be released electronically and in print by Grand Central publishing’s digital imprint, Forever Yours in April 2013. Yay! I love how the color scheme pops on the screen!

I don’t want to say much more about the cover art because I thought we’d have a little fun on Attacking The Page. Can you tell by the cover alone what genre this book is? Obviously by the sexy couple you’d know it’s a romance novel, but what romance sub-genre would you expect to read? (Hey, no peeking at my bio for hints.)